Even Bastards Can Love
by Emily V. Snape
Summary: William Tavington finds himself in love with a strong willed woman. Along the way he is reminded of his lost lover, the war,and his family. And he must settle somewhere and marry. Of course, life isn't easy, nor is it fair.
1. The First Meeting

Disclaimer: I do not own Tavington nor Raina, or any other character used in this story.

Rating: M for later chapters.

Riding into Norfolk from a long journey, William Tavington stopped at a nearby bakery to grab a piece of fresh bread for himself, and some grains for his horse. In a southern colony, the food seemed much better. The bread was deliciously salty and still had it's warmth. He couldn't stay long, but some of the other Dragoons were taking quite a while in town. William looked around, the town seemed to flourish with land, and large houses. No doubt most of the populations slaves were here. He noticed a woman by the fruits stand, in a beautiful green dress. That was also one of the main reasons to stop in town, to most of his fellow soldiers, women.

The woman was now near him as he fed his horse, and he looked up to meet her gaze.

"Why, hello gorgeous..." she smiled a bit shyly.

"Hello there, Miss." he responded, bowing.

"And how are you this fine evening?" She touched his left bicep, openly flirting. He flexed his arm a little as she touched him.

"I am well, and you?"

She smiled at his gesture and giggled. "I am well." She looked into his blue eyes, keeping her distance a little. "I'm Raina." She extended her right hand, having been raised properly. He took her hand and bowed to kiss it-

"I am Colonel William Tavington. You may call me William." He looked into her eyes and smiled before looking her face over. She wondered if he really just kissed her hand.

"William," she repeated his name softly. He was quite handsome and she had no issue staring at his face. "Pardon me if I stare, there aren't many men as handsome as you."

He chuckled and stared back. "Why thank you. I don't mind, you are quite beautiful yourself." He sighed, knowing he'd have to be back on the battlefield soon.

"You sigh," her smile quickly faded. "What is it?" She looked at his red, white, and green jacket and touched the chest of it, curious of the feel. Her eyes left his and followed her fingers. "I love that you fight for your country. And a Colonel!" Her eyes lifted to his excitedly, "I've never met a military man."

He watched as she admired his clothing, and saw how her eyes lit up at his status as a soldier. "I must go soon, for it is constant war. And I wouldn't want to miss the chance of killing a few patriots."

William smiled slightly and took a star pin from his jacket collar and handed it to her. No doubt he'd say he lost it in battle. "Here, now you have a piece of official military apparel." She took the star pin and looked it over in awe.

"I can keep it?" Her eyes rose to his again. "I love it. I'll cherish it." She rose on her toes and kissed his left cheek gently, "I'll wear it every day."

He smiled as she kissed him, he had never felt so interested in a woman for more than just her body. "That's wonderful, but I don't think you should get too attached. After all," he looked sad for a slight second, "war is war, and casualites do happen."

She settled back to her feet and stuck the star pin in her shirt. "I don't become attached upon sight." She looked at his jacket and felt it again, "I could grow attached." She touched the gold threads on his jacket, "If we spend much more time together as we are now, I could grow attached quickly."

"I'm afraid I won't have much time, but I'm sure we will see eachother again." He sighed, knowing he better go "I am sorry, but I must be going. I am sure King George wouldn't be too happy with me if I weren't doing my duties."

She took his hand in hers and squeezed it, her green eyes meeting his blue ones. "Then know you'll be with me." She touched the star on her shirt with her free hand. "And be careful. Don't let any patriots do anything, like, oh..." She smiled, "Stick you with a blade."

William met her eyes, and smiled before leaning down and kissing her cheek "Thank you. I will do my best." He let go of her hand and took his gun, putting his hat on as he walked towards his horse and rode off-

She held her cheek and watched as he disappeared, a smile plastered on her face. She liked him already, and hoped he would return alive.

Well! This is going to be a very long fic, and I hope to get positive reviews! I update as I can, for I roleplay this out with a good friend, Jo...who has all the rights to Raina Sinclair.


	2. A Quick Return

"Ha! What a day!" Captain Wilkins said as he joined William Tavington in the field of grass and flowers and clapped him on the back, interrupting Tavington's thoughts about that woman Raina. "Captured rebels! Are you going to torture them for information?" the Captain asked with a somewhat uneasy look.

"Oh *I'm* not going to do it unless necessary. Bordon is doing so right now." Tavington replied with a smirk.

Wilkins eyed Tavington with what seemed to be judgement. No doubt he thought the man was crazy, he had been fighting with him for a while. He saw the red gleam in his friend's eyes as he hacked down the "damn Patriots". And now with this "Ghost" about, Tavington seemed even more on edge. But he had sensed something was different with the Colonel. "Sir, can I ask you something?" Wilkins asked carefully.

"You just did." Tavington replied like the smartass he is, then sighed. "What?" Anytime Wilkins used 'Sir' it usually ment he was going to ask about his personal life.

"You seem a bit distracted today, is everything alright? You didn't get a letter from your family causing any distress did you?"

Tavington lifted a flower in his hand, looking at the field around them. "It's nothing that is of concern." he thought a little more. "Beautiful country..." He felt as if the statement had more than one meaning "...everything grows here." He sighed, content with the day, other than the fact that they hadn't gotten one single piece of informations on the whereabouts of Benjamin Martin. As if right on cue, a terrible scream of agony pierced William's thoughts, and he rolled his eyes. He turned sharply and walked off towards the house where they had a rebel being tortured. He walked in to see a man on a table, clearly tortured close to death.

"I'm sorry, sir." Bordon lifted the rebels head. "He died." Tavington shoved the table and the body rolled off. "Bring me the other!" he growled. And so the man was brought in, and offered his chance to get away alive. The rebel, smiled...and spat in Tavington's face.

"Do your worst!" he said.

"I always do." Tavington said, wiping the mans spit from his face and grabbing the nearest sharp tool...

Later that night Tavington sat in his tent with a cup of tea, going though papers and found himself distracted by greens eyes in his thoughts. He was glad they had a victory last night. That meant he'd be going into town for a while now. He smiled to himself and began humming a tune.

Suddenly gunshots were heard. "To arms! To arms!" shouted a man. Tavington grabbed his guns and sword and ran out of his tent. He ran off towards where the main part of the fight was. Somehow the prisoners had escaped and taken weapons. Although Tavington was quick and killed almost every rebel himself, he got shot in the leg.

"Argh!" he exclaimed, falling to one knee. He looked up and the situation was under control thankfully. Now he needed to get into town to a doctor, since two of the three surgeons were killed and he rather get his leg taken care of as soon as possible.

"Wilkins! I need a horse, and for you to take me into Norfolk. Hurry."

Tavington waited for him to return, and order Bordon to take care of his tent. Then carefully rode off as fast as he could.


	3. A Place To Stay

Tavington rode into town with speed, the horse he was riding making sounds of protest from the people in the way. He quickly dismounted and staggered from the multiple cuts on his right leg, and he was holding his arm. He sent his companion rider to get him a medically trained professional and followed the doctor to a small bench. The wound was not serious but he wanted immediate attention. He had hoped he would be in better shape when he saw Raina, and he sent his fellow rider with a message stating he had arrived. "Damn patriots..."

Raina looked at the rider, confused at first, then closed the door to her home as she took off running. No horse could gallop as fast as she wanted to run and arrive to him. She lifted her skirt as she ran as quickly as she could, the rider... calling after her from her front step. Tavington saw someone running towards him, his eyes being dazed from the loss of blood he didn't see who until they were close enough and spoke. He was thrilled to see it was her...it was Raina. But he didn't like her seeing him this way.

She made her way to him quickly and stopped as she reached him. He was sitting, a doctor was at his leg. She held his right shoulder, gasping for air. She lowered herself to his side, catching her breath. She lifted her green eyes to his, "William? What's happened?"

Something inside his chest fluttered as she spoke his name. "I've been cut several times, as you can see. Those damn rebels shot my leg. They flanked us, we had little warning." He winced as the doctor worked on a particularly deep gash.

She moved to his left side, away from his injuries, and took his bloody hand in hers, not minding a bit the mess and sticky red liquid. "Shot?" She looked at the doctor, then back at William.

Tavington looked at their hands for a second and looked back up at her-  
"I've been shot before, dear, it's not an issue as long as it's cleaned."

Do you have a place to stay, tonight? I can change your dressings. You'll have your own room and a hot dinner." She watched the doctor moving about William's leg, speaking more to the blue-eyed man than the doctor. "I'll take care of you." She squeezed his fingers and looked back to him, a smile spreading across her face with reassurance.

"No, I do not have anywhere to stay at the moment. I would be honored to be your guest." He glaced down at his wounds frequently to make sure nothing went wrong, and he smiled at Raina running his thumb across the back of her hand. "You know, I haven't been this happy since- well, for a while..." He frowned for a second as he was reminded in flashbacks of the past years.

She let out a soft chuckle with her smile, diverting her green eyes to his wounds also. "We've only just met. I told you I would grow attached." Her eyes lifted to his again, hoping he would see his pin on her left shoulder, but she wouldn't say anything. "Happiness, though... I would love to have that, maybe... with you." She had hesitated, but meant it. "Maybe we can discuss that tonight."

Tavington noticed the pin and chuckled "I can see, though I don't really see why you'd become attached to a man like me. I'll discuss anything you want..." He realized what he said and hoped she wouldn't ask the one question he had a hard time answering

She shrugged slightly, "Or not. You'll stay with me tonight. As for this shot..." She made an expression that screamed 'Oh my!' "If they let women fight in war, I'd send this bastard home to his mother in tears. I suppose he intended to kill you before you came back to me." Her eyes made her way back to his and she spoke sincerely, "I'm glad you came back to me."

"The man wants me dead, ever since I killed that stupid little boy. If it was his son, he had a very foolish child. He is very determined. I'm glad I came back too, but I may not survive this war." -The doctor finished and he payed the man with what little money he had on him, and tried standing but he couldn't feel his leg so he almost lost balance and rested a hand on Raina's shoulder to try to keep steady.

Raina steadied herself and wrapped his arm around her shoulder as she led him to a horse. She looked at a soldier, "Come down, help him." She looked to William, "You have a reason to, though. I'll be waiting. Here, climb up, if you can. I don't live far." She looked at his bloody clothes, "My father may have left clothes that are your size. You may be in luck."

He got onto his horse with the help of his fellow rider- "Alright, that sounds great. Wilkins knows where it is, he'll show me after he's done buying what he needs." Tavington nodded as if dismissing her. 


End file.
